No new bikes or cars seem worth buying these days?
Strange thread title I know but I have found myself at an interesting time in my life. I see I joined Kiwibiker in 2004. That was when I had kids at primary school and a mortgage that could make you cry and struggled to justify the stupid amounts of new bike purchases I made for years.
Now after a combined 39 nine years in banking I suddenly threw it in and for the brief last 4 weeks I have been in awe of retirement. Long story short but essentially my employer, bless their greedy bloody corporate arse, had possibly one of the best performing employee Super schemes around and I wanted my money OUT! So fortune has smiled on me and I now have new employment 7 minutes from home. The last 5 years commuting from Kapiti to Wgtn drove me nuts and that drove my decision to chuck it in. The last 18 months the morning drive was closing in on 1.5 - 2 hours. Yeah I ride it as much as possible (55 minute trip on the MT09) but I'm over freezing my butt off and getting soaked. I did that time when I was 15 onwards going to High School on my SL125 in Chch.
So now I find myself with a sort of desire to buy something nice, bike or car. A situation that years before I could have easily satisfied with so many cool choices. But now 2019? NOTHING really appeals to me. NOTHING reaches out and screams BUY ME YOU WANT TO. I"M FANTASTIC.
My taste is maybe weird. I went looking today at the current Mazda 6 wagon. I've owned a few station wagons and they are bloody handy. By the way I hate SUVs and try hards in utes. So I'm mildly tempted by a Mazda 6 wagon. Or my first preference which is a Mustang but not the V8. I see no point in a V8 these days and if I go with a Mustang I want to actually drive it heaps - so the 2.3L four in white is keeping me awake. I think the reincarnated Mustang (2015+) is the best ever Mustang in terms of looks and appeal.
Then I think of getting a new bike, but bugger me. There's nothing that appeals, apart from the Niken. The S1000R or Speed Triple appeal to me a bit but for the cost of changing are little more than a variant on what I already have. A fun naked upright sports bike.
I'm still too old for a Hardly What's a thingy or any other boring cruiser. I'm way over sports bikes. Been there. Done that. A light weight adventure bike has some appeal but more as a second bike or a one year purchase to do the Molesworth and the likes, then sell it. That's still on my to do list.
Looking at the latest bike offerings is just a boring parade of same old with minor tweaks. Usually involving adding more cc and even more kg. Pointless to me.
At least the Niken is DIFFERENT and does deliver what it promises. I'm holding back though because the market has not embraced the Niken, which means it could backfire when the time comes to sell one. I made that mistake when I bought the first F800S in the showroom. 12 months later no bastard wanted one and I lost heaps. Same shit happened when I bought the MV675 F3. Couldn't give it away 18 months later.
It's a wonderful dilemma for sure but really, what's the point of upgrading a motorbike these days?
I miss the times when the breaking news of a new exciting model had us dribbling at the mouth. Now I yawn.
Happiness is a means of travel, not a destination
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